


Those Before Us

by kbecks87



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Everyone is a Grounder, F/M, Gen, M/M, Pre-Series, Recent post-apocalyptic, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-24 15:39:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 10,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13216845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kbecks87/pseuds/kbecks87
Summary: This is an AU Bellark fic where The 100 (and friends) are the first generation of Grounders (people who were alive (children) when the World was as we know it now (pre-bombs) and now must grow up in a very different World - learning to survive in a way they never thought they'd have to, and defend their little corner of the World).





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> Dude - I normally hate AU's, but that seems to be all I can write for this fandom- haha! This ran away from me in a hurry, but I do hope you enjoy it! The operates on the assumption that some towns/cities had to be outside of the radius of the bombs/radiation and survived on dumb luck alone. Very loosely inspired by Jericho. This is less of a cohesive story, and more told through looks at characters lives as they meet at a central trading post. Hope you like it! Please Kudos/comment!

\----- Prelude -----

Clarke is sitting on a fence post, arguing with Jasper about whether or not cold beer and music from the town bar’s juke box is a worthwhile use of the win-fall of gasoline for the generator they recently came across when she sees Monty running towards them out of the corner of her eye. “Jasper, no” she says before kissing his cheek and jumping down. She grabs the back of Wells’ shirt as she passes him and pulls him with her to meet up with Monty as he pushes into the gate. He’s out of breath, hands on his knees, when he hands her a piece of paper. 

It takes her a minute to process what she’s looking at, but when she does she realizes that she’s looking at a hand drawn map; the outer edge of their town, where their furthest out patrols walk, to an unknown point. She flips the page over and see the words ‘Trading Post’ staring back at her. She shrugs a little and hands the paper to Wells who huffs a bit. “Where’d you get it?” she asks Monty, who has stood up and is breathing normally. 

“I was on the outer patrol and a guy just handed it to me and left” Monty shrugs a little and takes the water that Wells holds out for him, taking a long swig and handing it back. “He wasn’t confrontational at all and said they invite all the close towns” he pauses, “said that no one that trades knows where each other’s towns are, and that makes it safer” Monty trails off, probably thinking of the time they went to the Black Jack trading post and some guy tried to buy Clarke’s time and she’d had to spell out that she wasn’t a hooker for him – he’d showed up in the middle of town square angry and looking for her a few days later; Monty had been grazed by a bullet in the ensuing chaos. 

Clarke looks at Wells out of the corner of her eye, “We should go”. 

“It could be a trap” Wells counters quickly, like he’d been waiting for her to say she wanted to go. 

She gives a half shrug, “Maybe. But I don’t hate our odds if it is” she thinks about how they’ve gotten tougher since the bombs dropped, defended themselves when the need arose, “and if it’s not, being able to trade wouldn’t be the worst thing” she sees Wells nod a little and knows he wants to go and just felt like he should state the obvious. She distantly hears the generator roar to life and sound of 80’s rock fills the air and she rolls her eyes, crossing the street to turn the generator off and glares at Jasper, “Besides, I could a field trip” she deadpans. 

Wells nods with a little chuckle.


	2. Visit One

\----- Visit One -----

A few days after they get the note, they leave town in search of the trading post. They decide to hike it instead of taking the Rover or their horses, they want to know if they’re being followed at any point in the journey – a feat more easily accomplished while on foot. And, if Clarke’s being honest, she likes the idea of a long walk, of setting up camp for the night a few times, the stress of the town is constant and the journey is starting to feel like a break. 

It’s going to take them a couple of days to get there, depending on how much ground they cover at a time, and a couple days to get back, they intend to spend a day there, so they tell Monty that they’ll be gone a week or so. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They’re a mile or two from the ‘X’ on the map when Clarke adjusts her backpack on her shoulders and taps Wells’ wrist then points up in the trees. There is a man there, with a gun, watching them and the landscape, but he makes no move towards them and Clarke shakes her head a little at Wells’ concern. It makes sense that they would guard this place, she reasons, pulling him along. They start counting the people in the trees as they walk. 

The woods open up to a clearing soon after that and in that clearing, is a large wooden structure. It’s not a building, exactly, wooden posts arranged in a circle, about a foot apart, with an open-air roof, like the frame of a Yurt. The roof has a tarp piled up on the top, with ropes hanging down that Clarke assumes cover the roof in the event of rain or snow. It’s not a bad set-up, Clarke thinks as she turns around and looks at Wells, “It’s like Thunder Dome” she announces and he rolls his eyes while he laughs. They make their way past a row of parked cars and a long hitching post with a water trough in front of it with about a dozen horses tied up. 

There are people inside the structure, some milling about while others are at tables, trading things away. There are some guards outside, but they mostly look like they’re shifting their weight around and making small talk with people, one is helping a little girl tie a knot on a thread of beads she’s put together. They start walking forward when a man clears his throat a couple feet away. He’s behind a table, next to a big wooden cubby system with numbers on each cubby and a sign that says ‘No Weapons’ on the front of it. 

Clarke nods to herself, it makes sense that they wouldn’t allow weapons inside, and starts walking towards the table. Wells stops her with his hand on her elbow and his eyebrow cocked. She shrugs and whispers ‘I don’t know – it seems legit” in his ear, “We’ll never find out any other way”. He sighs when he drops his hand and follows her. “Hi” she says to the man behind the table, pulling her rifle from across her body and setting it on the table. He doesn’t answer her and she tries to keep herself from rolling her eyes, “…or not” she mumbles, pulling a knife from her ankle and setting it down before plopping her entire backpack next to it. Wells does the same, but he’s slower about it – more deliberate, and watches the man pile all their stuff into a cubby with an untrusting eye. 

It’s quiet for a moment, before Clarke seems to remember something and claps her hands together once, she looks at Wells and then at the man at the table, “You can help us settle something, actually” he barley even looks at her, but she continues anyway, “When we were walking up, were there six or eight guards in the trees?” She asks. It’s a serious question, but she asks it light hearted and easy and the man just looks at her, nonplused by her asking. “Come on” she tries to reason “we clearly saw them, we’re here anyway, you have our weapons” she rolls her eyes, “What’s the harm in telling us?” She asks. 

It’s quiet for a long moment until a woman’s voice fills the air from a few feet behind the man at the table, “Eight” she answers, “Follow me and I’ll answer any other questions you might have” the woman walks around the table and waits for them at the entrance to the structure. 

Clarke nods, says “Thank You” to the man at the table even though he still hasn’t spoken to them, and turns to Wells, “It’s okay” she says, all mock seriousness, putting her hand on his shoulder, “You will have so much time to work on your counting skills” she loses her ability to maintain her faux seriousness and her face breaks into a wide grin, “When you’re doing my laundry – all next month” she gives a little hop when she turns around and Wells shoves her lightly. She’s still laughing when his fingers circle her bicep and she looks at him over her shoulder. He raises his eyebrows and she knows he’s trying to figure out if this is a good idea. She shrugs one shoulder, glances back at the man who took their weapons – he hasn’t stopped staring at them – and towards the woman waiting for them at the gate, “Still don’t hate our odds” she mumbles and Wells looks exasperated, but nods. There is another man, standing just inside the entrance that pats them down – anyone who tries to bring weapons past the table is automatically black-balled. 

They meet the woman, who introduces herself as Anya, at the entrance to the structure and a man, who introduces himself as Michael, Anya’s husband, and apologizes for being late, joins them. Everyone seems to know Anya and Michael, and like them – they stop several times for someone to come up and talk to the couple. Michael explains that people from their town built this place when it became apparent that government wasn’t going to be reestablished and that people were going to have to figure out how to survive on their own. “It’s important to us that people are here to trade; that we don’t know where each other lives, that we’re unarmed inside, that everyone feel safe and be treated fairly.”

“Someone knows where we live – otherwise we wouldn’t have this” Clarke holds up the map for a moment before stuffing it in her back pocket. 

Anya nods “Miller” she gestures to a man about their age, outside of the structure, a gun slug across his back while he chats with the man who took their weapons. ‘He can speak’ Clarke mumbles under her breath and Anya laughs a little, “Bellamy is uh…” she trails off, glances at Michael, “an acquired taste”. Clarke rolls her eyes and Anya clears her throat a little to get back on track, “Miller would never have gone farther than your outer most perimeter and doesn’t know where you live any more specifically than that. And he won’t turn up there again uninvited”. 

Wells glances over at Clarke who gives a tiny shrug, “Can we look around?” Wells finally says, looking between Michael and Anya. 

“Of course,” Anya says, gesturing around them. “One of us will be right over there,” she points to a table with sandwiches set out on it, currently being manned by a girl who looks to be about seven “should you have any questions”. Clarke and Wells thank the woman before starting off in a loop around the tables, separating to walk in opposite directions. 

Everyone seems polite so far, Clarke thinks as she passes a table piled high with ears of corn and the man behind it nods at her. She glances around to make eye contact with Wells who is talking to a man selling slabs of meat and he gives her a little thumbs-up sigh and she shakes her head while she laughs. As she starts walking again she catches sight of Anya at the table where Bellamy is managing the guns and watches them for a moment before moving on. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

“I don’t like her” Bellamy says when Anya asks his opinion of the new people, “them” he corrects after she rolls her eyes. 

“Why?” she asks propping herself up to sit on the table in front of them. 

He shrugs, looks in to the trading post to see Wells giving Clarke a thumbs-up and shakes his head a little, “She seems too unaffected” he thinks about the bet they seem to have made about the guards in the trees, “Like the world going to shit hasn’t taken anything from them – people like that, people with no concept of what the world is now, they’re dangerous in their stupidity” she gives him a look “naivety” he corrects. 

“I don’t think there’s anyone left who is unaffected” Anya says, not quite looking at him. He just nods, he doesn’t want to argue, and they can use whatever goods they might have to offer the Trading Post, and since they don’t seem dangerous, he thinks that at least they can’t hurt them.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Clarke finds Anya at the table she’d pointed out in the back and walks up. Wells is making a final loop, trying to remember what everyone is offering and cross reference that with what they might need. “How many towns are represented here?” Clarke asks, conversationally. 

“Six or seven” Anya says, glancing around, “It fluxuates a bit – there are some that are here every day, some that sell once a week, and some as come when it’s necessary”. Clarke finds the whole thing fascinating, and when Anya tells her that they’ve been doing this successfully for a little over a year, she’s impressed. 

Clarke tells Anya that they’ll be back sometime the next week and will bring something to trade, to try this out, and Anya promises that there will be a table for them. She shakes hands with Anya, then Michael, then meets up with Wells at the table to collect their guns. She notices that the bins are numbered and wonders if she was supposed to remember the number bin her stuff went in to. That’s confirmed when the person in front of her says “Hey Bellamy, I was twenty-three today” and Bellamy nods, pulling out the man’s stuff and handing it over. She’s trying to recall when all the sudden her stuff is in front of her and she glances up. 

“Thanks” she mumbles, shouldering her backpack and handing Wells’ to him. He still doesn’t speak so she just gathers the rest of her stuff and says “See you next week” before walking into the woods with Wells.


	3. Visit Two

\----- Visit Two -----

They take horses the next week and not too much to trade, but enough to see if they like the vibe. Clarke ties her horse up and pats her neck a little, waiting for Wells before crossing over to where Bellamy is. He takes their weapons and pokes through the bag of stuff they’re taking inside before they go in. He still doesn’t say a word to them. 

Wells sets up at a small unoccupied table on the far-right side of the trading post, where Anya gestures before nodding at them and disappearing in the crowd after being called. He sets out the one-pound packages of salt they brought with them and the quarter-pound packages of meat. Their town was built on a salt mine, it was where eighty percent of the town worked before the bombs fell, so that’s one natural resource they were lucky enough to have in abundance, and one of Jasper’s dairy cows broke her leg a day ago, but she was healthy so they’d come by the meat just in time to bring it. 

Clarke goes to find Anya or Michael to let them know that they decided to come and makes her way over to the table she’d found Anya at last time. Anya’s talking to a little girl who comes around the table once she notices Clarke and stands right in front of her. “Hi, I’m Madi” the little girl sticks her hand out for Clarke to shake, which she does, glancing over Madi at Anya and smiling.   
“Hi Madi, I’m Clarke” she says. 

“Okay” Madi says brightly and runs off to meet up with someone she sees across the way. 

Clarke laughs as she makes her way over to Anya who is smiling fondly after the little girl. “Come around” Anya says to Clarke, pulling a second chair up to her table for them to sit. “I’m glad you decided to come back” Anya says and Clarke nods. 

“Me too” Clarke says. “Is she yours?” Clarke asks, point in the direction the girl went. 

Anya opens her mouth to answer, but a man comes up to the table to trade and Clarke watches as he trades Anya a gallon of gasoline for two turkey sandwiches, taking one back to a woman who is walking around. “No” Anya answers her earlier question, “Madi’s dad was never in the picture and her mother died in child birth, right after the bombs” she’s quiet when she says it and Clarke finds herself glancing around, her eyes settling on the little girl, who is outside talking to Bellamy, of all people. “She’s kind of everyone’s now” Anya finishes, following Clarke’s eyes to Madi showing Bellamy a rock while he pretends to be transfixed by it. She must catch the look of confusion on Clarke’s face because she laughs lowly, “Bellamy is a good man, he’s just had it hard”

Clarke nods, she’s not going to argue; she has no idea what kind of man Bellamy is, only that he’s never spoken to her and seem to dislike her for reasons she doesn’t understand. “Hasn’t everybody, anymore?” she asks instead and sees Anya nod out of the corner of her eye. They sit and talk for another twenty minutes or so, and Clarke is pleasantly surprised with how well she gets along with Anya. “I’m going to go check on Wells” Clarke finally says, standing up. Anya gives her a sandwich and Clarke insists on trading for it, but Anya shakes her head and tells her that it’s a welcoming gift. Clarke smiles while she nods, “I’ll owe you one” she finally says. 

She tears the sandwich in half on her way to Wells and hands half to him as she walks behind the table to see what they have left. He’s amassed some much-needed gasoline and some fresh fruit and when looks up at him he’s taking a bite of the sandwich and looks like he’s having the time of his life. “You’re enjoying this” she says, eyebrow cocked. 

“I am – the people seem cool” he shrugs a little and tries to explain how the sense of community is nice, but stumbles around his words. Clarke smiles and nudges his shoulder with hers. 

“Yeah” she agrees, thinking about her interaction with Anya. It’s been so long since if felt like they could exist anywhere other than their town, or know anyone other than their people without fear that the possibility of that is intoxicating. After a long moment, she leans up and kisses his cheek, “Have fun, I’m going to explore” she says, walking out from behind the table and grabbing her water bottle to walk around. 

She’s been walking between tables for about ten minutes when she realizes that Madi is following her. She glances back and watches her pretend not be and laughs, “Hey Madi”. Madi blushes and whispers a ‘hi’ back. “What are you up to?” Clarke asks, moving more towards the center of the trading post so they’ll be out of the way.   
“Just looking around” Madi says, following her. 

“Yeah, me too” Clarke agrees with a little nod. Madi starts following Clarke closer now, chatting with her as they walk. They stop at a table with gemstones and talk about their favorite colors and Madi shows her a table with wood carved boxes and points to one with a flower on the top, talks about how pretty she thinks it is. When they circle back around to Wells she introduces them and Wells charms her immediately, like she knew he would, and she sits with him behind the table, ‘helping’ him barter for the last few bags of slat they brought with them. 

When all their stuff is gone, and the sky is just starting to tinge pink with sunset, Wells packs their new acquisitions away while Clarke goes out to Bellamy’s table to get their stuff. “I don’t know my number – sorry” she says as she steps up. She wants to say that she doesn’t know it because he never told her because he’s never spoken to her. But, she doesn’t think it would make much difference. He turns and sets her and Wells’ stuff on the tables and she grabs it, “See you next week” she says, hears silence in return.


	4. Visit Nine

\----- Visit Nine -----

They take the Rover this next week, along with some new people. Raven, who has just added the solar panels to the Rover and worries about it breaking down comes, and so does Monty who has been curious about the Trading Post ever since Miller gave him the note, and even though Clarke doesn’t want to be trapped in a confined space with Finn, he comes. His dad had owned the store in town, but when he died, about a year after the bombs, Finn took it over; it runs in trade now, and he comes with a list of things that people have been asking for. It’s an awkward ride and as soon as Wells stops the car she jumps out, stumbling a little. She thinks she sees Bellamy smirk at her from the corner of her eye. 

“Hey” Clarke says as she unloads her stuff on the table. Bellamy looks at her for a long moment before he takes it, stowing it in a cubby. She waits until all the stuff has been checked in or gone through and they walk in as a group. Her and Wells go to the same table they set up the week before while the rest fan out to explore. She helps Wells set up then goes to find Anya. Her and Anya chat for a few minutes and Clarke trades her a half-pound of salt for two sandwiches and a few lollipops that she’d gotten earlier in the day. 

She gives Wells a sandwich and the green candy, tucking her sandwich behind the table and unwrapping the red candy before pulling it off the stick and popping it in her mouth. She sits behind the table, but pulls her chair back until it touches the wooden posts holding the structure in place, letting Wells do his thing. She pulls her sketch book and a pencil out of the pack they’d brought inside and starts sketching the people as they wonder around. 

Madi comes over and sits with her for a while. She gives her the last candy and her eyes light up. She catches Bellamy watching her, then, and he must realize it because he looks away quickly. After Madi leaves, Clarke looks around a little, just to make sure everyone is doing alright. Raven is talking to someone at one of the tables, turning a big mechanical part over in her hands, Finn is trading a bag of salt for something at another tables, and for a moment she can’t find Monty, but then she looks just outside of the structure and sees him talking with Miller, rubbing at the back of his head and smiling a little. She slouches in her seat so she can kick Well’s ankle lightly and when looks back at her, a little annoyed, she juts her chin out so he’ll look over at Monty. “Awww” he says, a little sarcastic, turning back to look at Clarke with a smile. Miller seems nice, Clarke thinks, she’s talked to him a couple of times since they started trading, and he seems okay and Monty is a great judge of character. 

The sky starts to turn pink, so Clarke folds her notebook closed and stuffs it back in the pack and starts rounding up her people while Wells packs up the table. Monty is still outside with Miller, so Clarke finds Raven at a table littered with mechanical parts that Clarke has no idea what they do. “Time to go” Clarke says and Raven nods, finishing up her conversation. She finds Finn next, taps his shoulder and tells him that they’re heading out. She’s turning around, to head to the front, when he circles his fingers around her wrist. She yanks her hand back and spins to face him, “Don’t” she says, low and serious, looking at him for a minute before spinning back around and going up front to meet everyone. When she collects their things from Bellamy, she wonders if she imagines the way his eyes dart between her and Finn, now talking to Raven by the Rover.


	5. Visit Tweleve

\----- Visit Twelve -----

This time when they come, it’s just Clarke and Wells again, and they bring the horses. They check their stuff with Bellamy in silence and go inside. They haven’t been there long, maybe an hour, when Clarke decides to take a lap. She comes to a table where a sweet girl named Harper has a miscellaneous collection of stuff laid out without a lot of rhyme or reason behind it. She picks up an old kid’s jewelry box, the kind that when you open it a ballerina spins while Swan Lake plays lightly, but when she does the book under it catches her eye. **The Risk Of The Modern Plague And How To Avoid It By Abigail Griffin.** Clarke turns the book over in her hands a couple of times; she’s actually never read it, her mom wrote it when Clarke was about two, back when Abby thought she might follow Thelonious into politics. She tries to smile at Harper when she asks if she’s okay, before she sets the book down at makes her way back to Wells. 

Wells notices her immediately, reaching out and tugging her away from the table he’d been at, away from people. She faces out into the woods, and stares at a tree when she tells him about the book. She and her mother were never close, and it was her choice to leave Clarke and the town behind (she wonders, almost idly if her mother is still alive, if she found the salvation she was sure existed), but for some reason encountering it when she wasn’t prepared or expecting it has knocked her off kilter in a way she wasn’t expecting, reminding her not specifically of her mother, but of everyone she’s lost along the way. She feels tears in her eyes, “Do you want to go?” Wells asks, leaning into her space so people can’t watch her, “We can go, right now” he says, his hand on her back. 

Clarke shakes her head, “No” she pulls in a deep breath, “No, I’m just gonna…” she trails off pointing out into the woods, “I’m just going to go for a walk” she nods a little, to herself and squeezes out between two of the wooden posts, she knows you’re not supposed to do that, that they want everyone to feed through the entrance / exit by where Bellamy is for security, but she can’t bear the thought of walking through the crowd, so she squeezes out and walks out into the tree line. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She catches his eye when Wells pulls her away from the table where they have stuff set up, and he’s not sure why, but he can’t help but watch her. She slips through the posts and towards the woods and he grabs Miller, has him keep an eye on the weapons, and follows her. He keeps a good distance so she won’t notice him, and isn’t sure why he does it. He comes to an abrupt stop when he sees her leaning against a tree and crying, hard. Her chest heaving and her hair in her face. He swallows thickly and turns back, it doesn’t feel right to intrude on the moment and he’s not sure what made him follow her in the first place. 

He gets back and takes his post back over. His eyes keep fliting over to the woods, seeing if she’s reemerged. He sees her about half an hour later, circling back from the woods to the entrance of the trading post. She doesn’t look like she’s been crying at all and he’s impressed with how easily she’s slipped back into herself. “I don’t have anything, I just took a walk” she says to him as she passes by his table.

“I know” he says and she stops, turning to face him and then walks back over to him, stopping at the edge of the table. 

“He speaks” she tilts her head to the side a little, looking at him with a small smile. 

He chuckles a little, rubs his hand through the hair at the back of his head, “Yeah” he nods, “Yeah, I uh…” he trails off and shrugs a little. Silence settle over them and he swallows, “I’m Bellamy” he says holding his hand out. 

She nods, laughs, “Yeah, I know” she says, but shakes his hand anyway, “I’m Clarke” she answers. “So, um -”

“Clarke, come look” cuts off whatever she was about to say “Hey Bellamy” Madi adds, smiling brightly at the two of them. 

“Sorry” Clarke whispers and follows Madi off to see whatever she was excited about. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hours later she comes out to collect their stuff while Wells gathers their things inside. He’s handing her a green backpack when she glances behind herself at her horse, tied up at the hitching post but making some noise. She sees a man next to it and calls out “You might not want to do that”. 

The man calls back that he’s been around horses all his life and he’s fine, sweetheart. Bellamy enjoys the way Clarke rolls her eyes and mumbles “I think you’re going to regret that” under her breath about a second before her horse kicks the man and huffs, shaking its head. “There’s an ‘I told you so’ in there somewhere” she says to Bellamy, her voice light. 

“Your horse kick everybody?” Bellamy asks and she laughs. Bellamy hates that he likes the sound of it. 

She shakes her head, “Not a fan of new people” she glances back, “I only got her cause no one else could get close, for some reason she was always fine with me” she shrugs, “Maybe cause I don’t always like new people either”

Bellamy smirks, “Maybe” he agrees, handing her the last of her stuff. Wells is coming up behind her so he nods, “See you next week, Clarke”. 

She smiles, “See you next week, Bellamy”. Wells stops for a second, staring after the Exchange, before catching up with Clarke. 

“What the fuck” he asks when they’re out of earshot. Clarke just laughs.


	6. Visit Seventeen

\----- Visit Seventeen -----

Clarke sets her backpack on the table and pulls a book out of it before zipping it back up and pushing the bag towards Bellamy. She sets her riffle and knife down after and Wells follows suite. She sits on a tree root a couple of feet from his table, outside of the trading post, while Wells goes inside and Bellamy cocks an eyebrow at her. “I can’t sit here?” she asks, her voice a mixture of amusement and incredulity. She's never done this before, not going in the Trading Post with Wells. But, she has a headache and doesn't much feel like being in the middle of the constant movement and noise that is the Trading Post most days. 

“You can sit there” he counters, turning around to stow their stuff in a cubby. She opens her book to the dog-eared page while he keeps checking in people’s stuff, giving them numbers in return. She’s half way through a page when she realizes that he’s looking over at her and she looks up at him, “I uh…I was reading that book, before…” he trails off with a shrug, pulling himself to sit on the table he was just standing behind. 

“Is the ending good?” she asks, putting her finger in the book to hold her place and lowering it to her lap. He shrugs a little, “The middle is kindda weird, so I’m trying to decide if I should power through”.

“I don’t know, I never finished it” he shifts a little on the table, “I was reading it a couple days before the bombs, and then…” he trails off with another shrug and she nods a little. 

“Sorry” she mumbles, even though she didn’t do anything and he smirks at her with a little nod and she picks her book back up. They've talked a little since he dropped the silent treatment a few weeks ago, but nothing more than pleasantries - small talk and the weather as they dropped off or picked up their stuff. It was still a nice shift though - not doing it in silence. 

He watches her out of the corner of his eye when he’s not busy. Watches the way she gets totally absorbed in the book, laughing a little or scoffing at the characters without seeming to realize that she’s doing it. After a while she closes the book and smiles, standing up and walking over to Bellamy. She sets the book down on the table and taps it lightly to get his attention “The middle is weird, but the payoff is good, so power through” she says once he looks over at her. 

“I didn’t ask for that” he says, looking at her like she’s crazy. 

“Yeah” she agrees, pushing her hair behind her ears, “I just…you said you didn’t finish it, so…” she trails off with a shrug. 

“I don’t have anything to trade you for it” he says, almost harshly. 

“I didn’t ask for anything” she says with a little huff. He opens his mouth so she holds her hand up, “Read it, burn it, give it away, I don’t care” she says, spins in her heel and walks away.   
She doesn’t get far before Wells’ voice calls out to her from inside. “Clarke” he yells and waits for her to turn, “Anya is looking for you” he says and she holds her hand up to let him know she heard and goes in search of Anya. 

When she finds Anya, she asks her if they can walk and talk and leads Clarke away from the people. Anya tells her that she thinks there is a chance she’s pregnant, but wants to be sure. She’s heard about Clarke’s pre-med back ground and though she could help. “Anya, I’m a pre-med drop out, so don’t set your hope too high” Clarke teases, “But, yeah, if I can draw some blood, I can do that”. Clarke knows that they have a little gas in the generator, enough to power the equipment she'd need to check Anya's blood at the small clinic for the few minutes she'd need it. She nods and Anya produces a tube and syringe from her bag, “Wow, you travel prepared” Clarke laughs and Anya tinges pink. “I’ll come by tomorrow” Clarke promises. 

“You needn’t do that – I know you have to travel to get here” Anya says, rolling her sleeve back down after Clarke is done. 

Clarke shakes her head and smiles a little, “I don’t want you to obsesses about it all week” Clarke teases and Anya thanks her. 

When they collect their stuff and leave, Bellamy and Clarke don’t speak to each other at all.


	7. Visit Seventeen (And-A-Half)

\----- Visit Seventeen and A Half -----

When she gets to the table, alone and on he wrong day of the week, he seems completely taken aback. She sets her stuff down and he glances around, “They let the princess out of the castle alone?” he asks and she rolls her eyes. “What are you doing here?” he asks more seriously, stowing her stuff and turning back to her. 

“Just a favor for Anya” she says. Anya hadn’t wanted anyone to know, but the way he nods makes her think he might anyway. 

“You came alone?” He glances around like Wells is going to pop out of a corner and she nods. He looks like he wants to say something but Anya calls her name from inside the trading post. She smiles at him before walking away. 

Anya is pregnant, and she jumps a little, pulling Clarke into a hug when she tells her. She asks Clarke to stay and eat with her and Michael and Clarke nods with a smile, tells her that she’ll wait for her up front and walks back to find Bellamy sitting on the table. 

“May I?” she asks, gesturing to space next to him on the table. He nods and scoots over a little. She smiles a little and sits on the table next to him, swinging her feet back and forth a little since they don’t quite touch the ground. 

“I’m sorry about yesterday” he says quietly, after a moment has passed. She shakes her head a little, so he swallows and adds, “no, really”. He looks at her out of the corner of his eye, she turns her head to look at him and he clears his throat a little, “I don’t like to owe people things, I never have” he says almost quietly and watches Clarke nod a little in return. 

“It was just a book, Bellamy” she answers, her voice light and little teasing.

“Yeah” he says, almost distantly. She leans over and bumps his shoulder with hers and he chuckles a little, leans over to bump her back and repeats, “Yeah” a little laugh in his voice. It’s quiet for a while, but it’s an easier more companionable quiet, and when Bellamy breaks it to ask “So, what are you doing here alone, where is Wells?” it’s conversational, if a little concerned. 

Clarke shrugs a little, “I’m just helping Anya with something, so he stayed home” Bellamy nods a little, “I think he’s planning to spend all day following Raven around in hopes that she’ll just fall into his arms…like literally, maybe?” she laughs a little when she says it, like she’s letting him in on some huge cosmic joke, so when he just cocks an eyebrow at her she sighs with mock exasperation, “They’re a little bit in love and a lot slow about the whole thing” she explains and he nods a little. When he asks her how she knows Wells, her whole face lights up in a smile, “We grew up together” she nods while she talks, “He’s always been like a brother to me.” She pauses and glances over at him, like she’s trying to decide if she can trust him with the rest of the story. “We had a falling out when I was in New York for school, but he was actually the reason I was home and not there when the bombs fell” she adds, quitter and more far away, lost in the memory.

He leans over this time, bumping her shoulder with his and he watches her come back to herself until she turns to face him again and smiles brightly at him. He smiles back at her, surprised by how easily it comes. “I have a sister” he says quietly, after a beat has passed, “Octavia” he elaborates unprompted. 

“Younger?” Clarke asks, her feet starting to swing lightly in front of the table again as she relaxes. He nods and looks at her, eyebrows raised, and she shrugs a little, “Something in the way you said it…sounded protective” she says and he can feel the tips of his ears redden and hopes she doesn’t notice. “Is she here?” Clarke glances around the trading post a little, like she’s going to recognize Octavia’s long hair and olive skin at any moment. 

Bellamy shakes his head a little and answers with a chuckle, “No, she doesn’t come here often” he answers. He opens his mouth to elaborate when Anya comes up and asks Clarke if she’s ready. 

Clarke hops off the table and nods. When Anya asks if Clarke would mind if Bellamy joins she makes a show of considering before dissolving into laughter and tugging on the sleeve of his shirt until he steps down from the table as well. Miller steps into Bellamy’s place behind the table and the three of them meet up with Michael at a picnic table about 30 feet from the trading post.

The four of them make easy conversation while they eat stew and corn bread. Anya tells Bellamy about the pregnancy and Bellamy congratulates them and smiles at Clarke. The way he smiles at her confirms her earlier suspicion that he already knew and she hides her smile behind a piece of cornbread. Later, she looks up at the sky and sighs softly, “I should get going, if I’m not back by dark Wells is going to start searching, and then he’ll get lost – it’ll be a whole thing” she smiles when the three of them look at her, “Yeah – story based on real life events” she says around a laugh and once they settle she turns to Bellamy, “I don’t remember what bin my stuff is in” she says with a little smile. He rolls his eyes in a good-natured teasing way and makes a show of standing up, “I mean, I think I don’t remember because you didn’t tell me so…” she teases and he rolls her eyes. It’s hard for to believe that they were so at odds just a short time ago. She says good bye to Michael and Anya and walks slowly back to the table that Bellamy normally occupies with him. 

“Do you want someone to walk you part of the way back?” Bellamy asks as they’re walking and she looks at him from the corner of her eye, “It’s dangerous to be alone out there” he defends against her incredulous stare. 

She nods a little, “I know. I’ll be okay though” she says. “Hey Miller” she says when they reach the table. He asks her about Monty and she smiles when she says she thinks he might come with them next week. Miller tries to hide his smile, but can’t quite and Bellamy rolls his eyes, taking his spot back behind the table and clapping Miller on the back. “Be nice” Clarke says after Miller has walked away. 

“Not really in my repertoire, Princess” he answers, putting her stuff on the table. She sticks her tongue out at him and he chuckles in return. “Be careful getting back” he says as she swings her backpack on, “Seriously” he adds so that she’ll look up and acknowledge his words. 

“I will” she says at an almost-whisper. She misses the days that you could call someone and tell them you got home okay, or to check on someone you were worried about. You just kind of had to hope for the best these days, and it could be a stressful endeavor. She smiles at him before she walks away.


	8. Visit Eighteen

\----- Visit Eighteen -----

They do bring Monty when they come back the next week. He’s not terribly found of horses, so they bring the Rover and more to trade than they ever have before. Bellamy comes over to the Rover to glance over the boxes of stuff before the three of them start taking stuff inside. The three of them make a couple of trips, Miller stepping in to help at some point, before Wells starts arranging things on the table. After it’s all set up, Monty and Miller start walking around together and Clarke goes and gets popcorn before she wanders outside to Bellamy’s table. 

“May I?” She asks, gesturing to the empty space on the table. He nods and she hops up a little to sit on the table. She eats while he checks people in, and it’s an easy companionable quiet that they exist in for a while, them talking in-between people. She tilts her cup of popcorn towards him and he looks at it for a long moment before he pulls out a few pieces and pops them in his mouth. She smiles, glad that he’d take something from her, and he dunks down a little, smiling back from under the hair falling into his face. 

When the trickle in of people starts to slow, he props himself up to sit on the table next to her. They talk a little about a book she’s reading, that she forgot to bring with her, then people watch a bit, whispering to each other what they think the stories of the people around them might be. A guy that Clarke doesn’t recognize calls out to Bellamy and he bumps her shoulder with his lightly before he hops down and crosses over to him, “What Murphy?” lingering in the air behind him. 

She sees a few people coming up the path and looks to where Bellamy is by the Trading Post, talking to Murphy and hops down from the table, she recognizes the people, she reasons to herself as she takes their weapons and gives them a number, tells the man that Wells brought the pesticides they’d talked about the week before. Bellamy comes back as she’s checking in the next persons things, and she takes a half step back but Bellamy just hold out his hand, an amused smirk playing on his face, in a ‘all yours’ gesture and she rolls her eyes, but finishes up the small group of people.

“Tryin’ to steal my job, Princess?” he asks, sitting back on the table. 

“It is surprisingly easy” she jokes, sitting next to him. He hums a little noncommittally, and she thinks about her third visit here, when a man desperate for supplies tried to shoot into the Trading Post and Bellamy and Miller had taken him down, Bellamy’s leg getting just a little grazed by a stray bullet in the process. She shifts just a little closer to him, pressing her left side against him so that they’re touching almost from shoulder to knee. 

He must sense the shift in her, maybe even knows what she’s thinking about, “Like anyone could do it” he whispers, husky and low, and she tilts her head up to be able to see his face. He looks down at her for a moment and she’s almost sure he’s going to kiss her, but the sound of Madi squealing as Wells ‘finds her’ during a game of hide-and-seek has both of their attention snapping inside. He clears his throat lightly, and starts to lift his arm. She feels her cheeks start to pink in embarrassment, and she presses her palms on the table to start to scoot away and back into her own personal space, but when he puts his arm back down, his palm in flat on the table behind her hip, so his arm cradles her a little, fitting her against his side more neatly. They’re both totally still for a moment after he does it, like they’re both making sure it’s okay, but after a moment, she relaxes into it and he leans into her a little to point at Monty and Miller, holding hands by the entrance to the Trading Post.


	9. (Non) Visit twenty-three

\----- (Non) Visit twenty-three -----

When Clarke and Wells don’t show up the next week, Bellamy is concerned (he and Clarke had talked about bringing books to trade) but not overly worried. People skip weeks all the time, especially as they get more comfortable with the trading post and start to realize that it will be there when they need it, and they've been coming for bout half a year now, so they've surely figured that out – it’s not that weird. It’s the truth, and what he tells himself, but apparently not very convincing, because Miller laughs at him every time he passes by the table Bellamy works at (even though Bellamy catches the way he double-takes at every even vaguely Asia looking guy, hoping it's Monty), then at the end of the night as they walk back to their town and linger towards the back of the group Miller sighs theatrically and tells him that he’s sure they’re fine.


	10. (Non) Visit Twenty-Four

\----- (Non) Visit Twenty-Four -----

When they don’t show up the next week, he can’t even hide his worry from Anya who stands next to him while he chews his fingernail and tells her that he thinks something is going on. “Maybe” Anya grants, shaking her head a little, “But we can’t do anything about it”. He wants to argue, wants to tell her that they could go to their town, to check, but that isn’t how this place works, and he knows that. He pulls in a deep breath as he nods and Anya squeezes his shoulder lightly as she walks away. 

He’s tempted to ask Miller to take him to the outskirts of their town, thinks he could probably talk him into it too, he’s pretty worried about Monty at this point. He doesn’t, because he knows it would be an awful position to put Miller in, but he thinks that if they don’t show up the next week he might.


	11. Visit Twenty-Five

\----- Visit Twenty-Five -----

When their Rover parks in the line-up, he’s almost embarrassed by the relief he feels pool in his stomach. Monty gets out first, and immediately crosses the parking lot to Miller outside of the trading post, who pulls him in to a hug and kisses him soundly, the sound of Monty’s surprised laugh carrying over to him as he watches Clarke step out of the car. Her eyes flit around until they land on his and she smiles shakily, and he returns it as best he can. Wells gets out of the driver’s side and pulls a box out of the back, they talk by the car and his eyes drift to Monty and Miller again. 

He wonders, almost idly, if they consider themselves dating, if you can possibly date someone when you don’t know where they live and can’t communicate when the need arises. The sound of Wells setting his box of stuff on the table in front of him pulls him out of his thoughts. He’s about to make a joke about the time away, but when he looks up he can see bruises and cuts crisscrossing Clarke’s face and what he can see of her arms and he swallows thickly. “I remembered my book” she says, her voice aiming for light but catching anyway and he shakes his head a little, his voice breaking over her name. 

Wells clears his throat and sets his gun on the table with a light thump, tilts the box towards Bellamy who nods and waves him in. Clarke walks around to his side of the table while he stows Wells’ stuff and when he turns around she is right in front of him, his shoes bumping hers lightly as he turns. She doesn’t say anything, just wraps her around his stomach lightly and presses her cheek into his chest. He pulls in a surprised breath, but recovers quickly, pulling her closer with his arms around her shoulders, his face in her hair, breathing her in. 

She laughs a little when she steps back, tucking her hair behind her ear, clearly self-conscious. She’s quiet for a moment before she gestures at the table, “May I?” she asks quietly and he rolls his eyes good naturedly when he nods. She smiles as she slides on to the table. He slides up next to her and watches her from the corner of his eye quietly as she fiddles with her sleeves and picks at her nails. She’s uncomfortable, and he doesn’t want to push her, so he bumps her shoulder with his lightly and points out Monty and Miller across the field, heads bent together and laughing lightly and she turns to look at him with a smile. 

They talk about little things, things that have nothing to do with why she is covered in little cuts and bruises. They break easily when someone comes up to check their stuff, Clarke helping him stow the items while Bellamy checks them over and lets them in. After a while, when things have called down and the air is starting to change with the evening approaching, Clarke pulls in a deep breath and says, “I got a little bit kidnapped” all in one long breath. He’s careful not to react, he can see how tense she’s gotten next to him, so he lets his fingers play at the small of her back and feels relived when she leans back into that feeling.

She half shrugs, trying to convey an indifference that she doesn’t feel as she turns to face him a little better. “Maybe kidnapped is the wrong word?” she amends, tilting her head a little, “I was at a creek, a few miles out of town and these people, Wanderers, just grabbed me.” She says, talking about people who don’t live in a town, but constantly travel instead – most are harmless, just people who couldn’t stay where they were from, mostly because of harsh weather or the radiation cutting too close to town…but sometimes it’s more nefarious than that. He’d heard of Wanderers trying to take over towns, or waiting right on the outskirts and taking people, or worse. “They took me…I was in and out but we traveled a while” she swallows, “I think they wanted to keep me a while then offer to trade me back to Arkadia for stuff”. He nods a little. She’s not supposed to tell him where she lives, but he thinks that they’re probably past that now – he thinks that when he gets home that night he’ll pull out an old map and see how far Arkadia is from Walden…just out of curiosity. 

She’s quiet for a moment, looking out at the woods around them while he watches her face. She pulls in a deep breath, “I wasn’t with them that long, in the end, they were pretty disorganized, and I was scared. One night one of the guys tried to…” she trails off, looking up at the sky, “and I was able to get away and just…run” she glances over at him and half-smiles, like she’s trying to comfort him and he thumbs a little at her elbow, rubbing her skin there lightly. “I got lost in the woods” she breathes out a little laugh, and he forces a smile, hoping that it makes her feel better. “When Wells and everyone couldn’t find me, he set off fireworks and I followed them home. I just knew it had to be him.” she laughs half-heartedly again and he sighs and puts his arm around her shoulder and pulls her into his side, “because who sets off fireworks, when people knowing where you live can get you killed?” she adds quietly, trying to change the subject.

He forces out a laugh, “Wells does” he wants it to come out as a joke, but he knows it mostly comes out worried and nervous. He knows how scared Wells must have been to resort to that, how hard they must have looked for her before doing something so dangerous. When he glances at the Trading Post, he sees Wells watching them and he lets out a long breath, tuning his head to nose at her hair a little. He wants to ask her a million questions, but he understands what she’s been through and doesn’t want to make it worse. They don’t talk much the rest of the day, just sit on the table with her leaning against his side.


	12. Visit Twenty-Eight

\----- Visit Twenty-Eight ----- 

A cold, heavy rain starts and people shriek and laugh and try to run from the drops. Clarke mans Bellamy’s table while he helps Miller lower the tarps on the Trading Post to help keep people and their things dry. By the time Bellamy makes it back to the table, he and Clarke are both soaked and she reaches her hand out, grabbing the hem of his t-shirt and pulling him under a big branch that’s offering almost no protection, but somehow makes her feel better about getting rained on. He laughs, one arm coming around her waist to brace himself against the sudden pull. She laughs and he takes a half-step back and out of her space. He feels himself lean forward for half a second, knows that he wants to kiss her, but he can’t do that – he can’t be with someone that he can’t actually be with, and isn’t interested in having a one-night-stand with Clarke so he kisses her forehead instead, his lips pressing against her cool skin, and she presses back against him, eyes fluttering closed, and he thinks she gets it.


	13. Visit Thirty-One

\--- Visit Thirty-One ---

Monty and Jasper are laughing as they jump out of the Rover, fist bumping in front of an annoyed Raven who is trying to tell them that just because they are celebrating, doesn’t mean they’re right. Wells sighs as he pulls their box of stuff from the back and Clarke glances over at the check in table, ready to share an amused glance with Bellamy, but Miller is there, already sharing an amused glance with Monty. 

She looks around a little, searching for Bellamy, but doesn’t see him. She grabs the top box on Wells’ stack, the one that makes it a little too high for him to see around and carries it with a small laugh while he pretends not to have needed the help. They set the boxes on the table and Clarke watches Miller poke through them. Raven and Jasper set their weapons on the table and rush into the Exchange while Monty walks around the table to hang out with Miller, she watches them feeing a weird role reversal. Miller must catch it, because he smiles at her while he gestures that they can take their boxes inside, “Bellamy is inside” he says to her lowly, like he’s not sure she wants anyone to hear. She smiles and whispers a ‘thanks’ following Wells with a box. 

Once at their table, she sets the box down and scans the crowd shopping inside. She spots Bellamy quickly, at a table with books and trinkets and just watches him for a moment. He makes easy conversation with the woman behind the table and is interrupted by people wanting to say hello to him often. You can tell by the way people interact with him that he is well liked and respected and she smiles a little at the unsure way he raises a book and reads the back cover. Wells kicks her ankle under the table and smiles at her. She dunks her head a little, “I’m gonna…” she trails off, pointing her thumb out towards the middle of the Exchange. 

“Oh, yeah, I know exactly where you’re gonna” Wells teases and she flips him off before she walks away, both of them laughing. 

She walks up behind Bellamy, and he’s so focused on the book she’s able to get right next to him without him noticing her. She bumps his hip with hers and watches annoyance color his features at the interruption before he turns to see her standing there and his face transforms into a bright smile and she feels warmth pool in her stomach. “Hey, I didn’t realize you’d gotten here” he looks around a little before his eyes settle on her again and he holds up the book and a jewelry box, “Which of these do you little better?” he asks and she laughs, her eyebrows furrowing together in confusion, “Octavia’s birthday is next week and I’m not very good at this stuff. 

She laughs again and nods, “That makes sense” she says, taking the book from his hands while he blushes a little. “I feel like this is for you” she tilts the book towards him again; it’s about ancient civilizations, before she sets it back down on the table, “and,” she starts, pulling the pink box out of his hands, “she’s not turning twelve, right?” he groans as she sets it on the table. 

She links her arm through his and pulls him through the crowd while he tells her about Octavia. After a while, she pulls him through to the small closed off section of the Exchange where weapons are traded. Murphy is guarding the place and he looks at them board, cocking his head to the side to let them in when they approach. They look around for about an hour, Bellamy going back and forth between booths, before settling on a knife with an intricately carved handle; flowers and designs curving around it gracefully, that Clarke found. 

He’s relieved once he has it – the world has changed so much, so quickly, and he doesn’t want Octavia to grow up feeling less important because of it. He tells Clarke as much over lunch; he buys and pulls her to a clearing away from the Exchange to eat.


End file.
